As International Cat Day approaches on Aug. 8, new data from global pet-sitting platform TrustedHousesitters highlights where its U.S. members are most likely to have a feline friend in their domiciles.
In a snapshot of current users as of Aug. 2026, the company analyzed 25,695 owner and combined owner/sitter accounts across 50 U.S. locations. Of those, 47.3% have at least one cat, 64.4% have at least one dog and 14.7% have both cats and dogs. The rankings focus on the share of these users in each city who report owning at least one cat.
New York City tops TrustedHousesitters’ list of “most cat-owning” locations. Among 2,556 owner and combined members analyzed there, 58.3% have at least one cat. Philadelphia follows in second place, with 57.0%
of 744 members owning cats, and Brooklyn comes third at 55.8% of 1,924 members. New Orleans (55.5%) and Oakland (53.6%) round out the top five.
The rest of the top 20 includes:
- Los Angeles (53.0%)
- Washington, D.C. (52.9%)
- Houston (52.5%)
- Portland (52.1%)
- Sacramento (52.1%)
- Minneapolis (51.6%)
- Seattle (50.6%)
- Durham (50.6%)
- Berkeley (50.2%)
- Chicago (49.5%)
- Boston (49.4%)
- San Francisco (49.3%)
- San Rafael (47.7%)
- Albuquerque (46.8%)
- Atlanta (46.7%)
In many of these cities, more than half of TrustedHousesitters’ owner and combined members share their home with at least one cat.
Taken together, the findings underline how well-suited cats are to city life, according to the pet sitting company. Although cats may spend much of their day napping, their adaptability, relatively independent nature and comfort living indoors make them a practical choice in dense urban environments.
In some cities on TrustedHousesitters’ list, cats and dogs are often living under the same roof: in Portland, for example, 52.1% of analyzed members own cats and 63.3% own dogs, with 306 members reporting both.
TrustedHousesitters is careful to note that the results are not official estimates of pet ownership for each city’s general population.
The analysis looks only at people who actively use its platform and who have listed pet-care needs in their profiles.
Those members are a self-selecting group of owners and combined owner/sitters, and the company has not established that they are representative of every pet-owning household in a given metro area. Still, the data offers a window into where cat lovers are most concentrated on one major pet-sitting site.
For current and aspiring city cat owners, TrustedHousesitters advises that indoor cats still need room to climb, scratch, play and explore. Creating vertical space with cat trees, shelves and window perches, rotating toys and scratching posts to keep enrichment fresh, and maintaining familiar routines around feeding and play can help keep cats happy and healthy in smaller spaces.
When owners travel, arranging in-home pet sitting allows cats to stay in their usual environment, which can be less stressful than boarding, according to a TrustedHousesitters spokesperson.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is your city cat‑obsessed? New data reveals top urban hotspots for felines
